explaining_errors_in_star_trekfandomcom-20200215-history
Doctor's Orders
'' |image= |series= |production=40358-068/316 |producer(s)= |story= |script=Chris Black |director=Roxann Dawson |imdbref=tt0572204 |guests= |previous_production=Harbinger |next_production=Hatchery |episode=ENT S03E16 |airdate=18 February 2004 |previous_release=Harbinger |next_release=Hatchery |story_date(s)=Early 2154 |previous_story=Harbinger |next_story=Hatchery }} =Summary= While traveling through the Delphic Expanse, Enterprise encounters a trans-dimensional disturbance that lies directly along its time-sensitive course to Azati Prime and the Xindi weapon (Stratagem). The crew also learns that the disturbance causes permanent neurological damage to humans. To avoid a two-week detour, while avoiding the danger to the crew, Doctor Phlox disables the neocortex of all human crewmembers, to survive the four day journey through the disturbance at reduced speed. While the crew is sedated, Phlox attends to his extended duties aboard the ship, including caring for Captain Archer's dog, Porthos, who is also immune to the effects of the disturbance. As he does so, he takes the opportunity to compose a letter to an acquaintance of his. Unfortunately Phlox himself begins to become nervous and is easily spooked by regular ship noises. In Engineering, falsely perceiving movement, he becomes increasingly tense and nervous. While investigating a noise he encounters Sub-Commander T'Pol, who is also carrying out duties while the human crew are sedated and, as a Vulcan, has been enjoying the quiet contemplation this situation allows her. She commits to spending more time with Phlox. Phlox's paranoia escalates to delusions. At one point he believes that two Insectoids have somehow boarded the ship. T'Pol insists there is nothing on the sensors, but humours him by helping with a deck-to-deck search, which reveals nothing. When Phlox almost shoots Porthos, T'Pol reminds him that it is healthy for his race to use hallucinations to relieve stress. Phlox disagrees, until he sees a 'zombie' Ensign Sato and an awake Captain Archer. He finally scans himself and confirms the disturbance is impacting his thinking. He plans to sedate himself and let T'Pol run the ship, but she acknowledges that she is also becoming disturbed. They discover that the anomaly is expanding and that they are ten weeks, rather than six hours, from emerging. Both of them are now easily agitated and distracted, with T'Pol's mind unable to focus on helping as Phlox battles to master the warp drive—he succeeds in getting them free. That done, he escorts T'Pol to her room, only to find her sleeping there, having been sedated at the same time as the human crew. His T'Pol hallucination disappears, but everyone is now safe. Phlox sends his unedited letter to his acquaintance, assuring him that he will enjoy the story of his hallucinations. =Errors and Explanations= Nit Central # Sparrow47 on Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 7:35 pm: Someone needs to check the map. In "Stratagem," they find that Azati Prime is three weeks away. Last week, they were mucking about at the anomaly, and now T'Pol says that they encountered said anomaly "several weeks ago." Several weeks? Shouldn't they be at Azati Prime by now? LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 12:58 pm: I wonder if that line was intended to be a reference to last week’s anomaly. She doesn’t specify anything about that anomaly that must make it the one from that episode, and they’ve run into a bajillion anomalies every since entering the Expanse. Most importantly, Archer refers to this anomaly as a “transdimensional disturbance,” when no such name was given to the one in Harbinger. The one in Harbinger was a gravimetric disturbance. # So getting the ship to warp is good an all, but... shouldn't someone have entered a course first? LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 12:58 pm: I just assumed they used the same course laid in at impulse. Maybe they needed to extend it once they realized that the disturbance had expanded, but he could’ve done that as he was fiddling with the warp reactor. # After reviving Trip (or is he still in the dream at that point?), he says that Trip has been unconscious for four days without food. Well, he would be understandably groggy, but what about water? Shouldn't the crew be severely dehydrated? SlinkyJ on Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 8:59 pm: I would think so. Though I would think, that since all of the quarters have a head, I bet either Phlox had a cup of water waiting for them when he woke them up, or they immediately ran to grab a drink from their bathroom. So, when it came to Trip feeling groggy and four days shy of not eating, he probably had already satisfied his thirst in his quarters when he woke up. brossa on Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 11:01 pm:''Yeah, the crew would have all been severely dehydrated, lying in their own waste, and have bedsores and some nerve damage after being immobilized for that length of time. And Archer should have had more beard after four days. ''LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 12:58 pm: You suffer nerve damage from being immobile for just four days?? Are you sure about this? brossa on Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 2:36 pm: Yes, I'm sure about nerve damage and pressure sores. Pressure sores develop because pressure on tiny capillaries exceeds arterial pressure. In an immobilized patient, this damage can occur in as little as two hours. LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 5:25 pm: So how do hospital staff combat this in comatose patients? Do they exercise the patients’ limbs? Or do the limbs get sufficient mobility when patient is handling during bathing? brossa on Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 6:03 pm: Immobile patients are normally on a schedule in which a nurse turns them from side to side at least every two hours so that pressure over any one point is minimized. There are also any number of fancy padding systems to keep bony prominences safe. OR tables have special gel pads to even out pressure. Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy can be done on a comatose person to reduce joint contractures and stiffness. Similarly, nerve tissue in exposed areas (eg the 'funny bone') is sensitive to pressure and accumulates damage. Patients in the OR can wake up with numb hands or feet after just a few hours of surgery due to pressure on nerves (normally temporary, but again, the damage is cumulative). TJFleming on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 9:47 am: Am I the ONLY one who noticed all the catheters, IVs, etc., coming out of the crew’s pants? # LUIGI NOVI on Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 10:34 am: In the beginning of Act 1, Phlox, in his letter to Dr. Lucas, apologizes for not responding to his letter sooner, but explains that the Enterprise crew has been busy. Is the Enterprise able to send subspace messages while in the Expanse? Has it been doing so since The Expanse? I’d find it odd if they were, since we haven’t seen Archer speaking with Admiral Forrest, or any other indication of communication with Earth, or even deployment of more subspace amplifiers. Perhaps he received the letter just before they entered the Expanse, and is planning to store it in the computer, to be sent at a later date, possibly when they reach a claer area. This is similar to what Tom Paris did with the letter to his father in Thirty Days. # When showing Phlox how to maintain Engineering in Act 1, Trip tells him that he normally wouldn’t even let him in there without four years of Starfleet training under his belt. Hoshi said she had three years of Starfleet training in Fight or Flight. Do engineers require more training then communications offiers, or is Trip just very particular in his requirements for those who work for him? Either engineers have to undergo additional training, which would make sense, or Hoshi underwent accelerated training, or both. Category:EpisodesCategory:Enterprise